


Summer in September

by antaran



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-24 03:08:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2566097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antaran/pseuds/antaran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in an alternate reality where Anteiku still remains standing and Kaneki gets a shot at coming back to it. And Touka too gets a shot at taking back the words she had unwittingly said that fateful day on the bridge. And they both get a shot at many, many more things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer in September

It had been twelve days since Kaneki had come back to Anteiku. Twelve days of Touka averting him when they would accidentally cross each other. Twelve days of excusing herself out of every room that he’d walk into. Twelve days of dodging his gaze and sidestepping his complete existence.

 

She would talk to him – if she could. But only days-two weeks had passed since the little episode on that bridge. And just as somehow summer had weaved into September, so had Touka’s guilt.

 

“Touka,” she heard the familiar voice call out behind her. And the young ghoul found herself in a compromising position. She was in the kitchen ‘looking after it’ while Yoshimura and Koma took care of some ‘health investigating’ business outside. Her instinct screamed at her to run, but where to?

 

“Hey, you, hey,” Touka spun around with an awkward wave. She leaned against the counter trying to regain her nonchalant composure.

 

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” Kaneki said, putting down a box which Touka figured was the cause of his sudden appearance. “But I guess you really didn’t want to see me, again.”

 

Touka’s breathing caught at her throat, and she looked away; as did he.

 

“I’m sorry about what I did,” he went on saying, “What I wanted to do was protect all of you. Maybe I wasn’t right in assuming I needed to, but there was a lot of…danger.”

 

He looked up at her only to find her eyes shrouded by her bangs. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

 

“I’m sorry, Touka,” he turned to the door, “You have every right to be mad at me and I’ll make sure you don’t have to see me.”

 

“You piss me off,” Touka mumbled as Kaneki began to leave.

 

“What?”

 

“You really piss me off, you know,” she said out loud, looking straight at his eyes. Kaneki didn’t avert his gaze. Neither did she.

 

She stomped forward, the vibrations of her steps reaching him before she did. And when she did reach him, she grabbed him by the collar and pulled his face to hers.

 

“Who do you think you are constantly making decisions for other people?” she demanded; her tone louder than she had anticipated when she’d decided to yell at him.

 

“You keep playing your little martyr card, and thinking you have to be the one to make a sacrifice every time,” she could hear her voice ready to crack as she went on, “This was your home and you left it.”

 

He continued to look at her eyes; there was a mixture of guilt and something else in his gaze that Touka felt no need to decipher.

 

“You said you wouldn’t leave me alone,” she tried to finish before her voice cracked, “But you did.”

 

She let her hand fall off from his collars and hang on her sides. She looked down at the tips of her trainers almost brushing the tips of his shoes. _Stupid Kaneki._

 

“Touka,”

 

Touka ignored his voice, concentrating on the tips of her trainers. But before she could resist, he had grabbed both of her hands and held them below his neck – where the collars of his shirt went. Startled at his reaction, Touka looked up to meet his eyes.

 

“I’m sorry, Touka,” Kaneki said. His gray eyes sparkled and Touka tried to take a step back. But his hands held her to him. “You decide this time. What you want me to do.”

 

Touka looked at him and he stared back at her. They continued to stand there like that before she came closer to him and let her hands go past his shoulders to around his neck. She held him. It was a subconscious action. It couldn’t be premeditated even if she tried. Five minutes ago she’d have thrown up fifteen times before having any sort of physical contact with him that wasn’t smashing his face.

 

Yet she stood there, holding him. Her whole body angled towards him. And after the subconscious action had transpired, she realized how much she consciously wanted to do it, too.

 

It felt like a long time that she had held him but he had made no point to hug her back. Feeling the blood rush to her cheeks, she eased her hold on him – ready to recoil her arms when she felt his hands slowly move. They rested on her waist and held her tighter than she had held him. He buried his face in his shoulder – her now longer hair. And he stayed there. He stayed like that for a long time, too.

 

And then she thought maybe he had needed this even more than she had.

 

 _Welcome home, Kaneki._ _You do belong in Anteiku. Like you always have._

**Author's Note:**

> I really enjoyed writing this. Here's to longer fiction for rest of Touken week, cheers!
> 
> It would be lovely if you could provide feedback and I would be grateful to your existence for the duration of both our existences(?) - well there!


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